General manager Rick Smith discusses the recent difficult period in Texans history

All-world quarterback Peyton Manning has again been intercepted. The Texans' defense is jawing. First-year coach Bill O'Brien's revamped offense has been precise and smooth. A reconfigured team has proudly held its ground on the home turf of the 2013 AFC champion Denver Broncos, with a heated practice reminding Texans who went 12-4 in 2012 --then lived through an unlivable 2-14 last season -- what it's like to actually play real, competitive football in the NFL.

The man whom owner Bob McNair charged eight years ago with lifting the Texans from an expansion embarrassment to an annual contender watches it all Wednesday, his sharp eyes shielded by reflective silver sunglasses, while his slim, athletic figure hovers near the action.

Then the man who drafted J.J. Watt and Jadeveon Clowney, found Arian Foster, and outlasted Gary Kubiak and Matt Schaub finds a cushioned trainer's bench beneath a medical tent, while the 80-plus athletes who'll eventually be thinned down to become the 2014 Texans stomp, stride and limp toward the team bus.

"Let's sit down," Texans general manager Rick Smith says.

For the first time since 2-14, Smith opens up.

A general manager who publicly went silent while the Texans fell apart last year answers every query and doesn't evade anything. A much-criticized 2013 draft, the Texans' fall, Kubiak's firing. O'Brien's hiring, McNair's devotion, Smith's short- and long-term visions.

"We're trying to get our organization to a place where we are successful every year," says Smith, who became the youngest GM in the NFL when he joined the Texans on June 5, 2006. "We were moving along that path and we had the setback."

The setback forever changed the Texans. A 2013 preseason Super Bowl contender hasn't won a regular-season game in 341 days. For the second time in his career, Smith is again charged with erasing embarrassment.

The silver-trophy dream long shared by McNair and Smith remains the same. But Year Nine of the Smith-era and Stage Three of the Texans is a new world for a proud, private GM who has just two playoff victories to show for everything he's constructed in Houston.

"Listen: I try to manage my mistakes with ease and grace, OK?" Smith says. "Because I don't have an overinflated opinion about my abilities in the first place. So I'm pretty good about that.

"We're all going to make mistakes. What do you do after you've done that? Can you look at a situation and learn from it? And then, moving forward, can you really implement what you learn? And that's growth. That's evolution and that's maturation. That's all those things that we're all trying to do in our lives."

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The Purdue strong safety had become a Broncos assistant defensive backs coach. By 1998, Denver had won the second of back-to-back Super Bowls. The beauty of the John Elway-era had peaked. Smith was at a career crossroads.

"I really had to do some soul searching and figure out what I wanted to do, because I had some opportunities to go to some different teams," Smith said.

A paused conversation with then-Broncos coach Mike Shanahan about Smith's future was reignited after Elway's second ring. No. 7's retirement and the departure a year later of his father, Jack, created a front-office void. Any desire Smith possessed to become an NFL head coach was quieted when he took over Denver's pro personnel department.

"He was a guy who was obviously very intelligent and a hard worker and had enthusiasm when he was on the field," said Elway, now the Broncos' GM. "So, to me, he had all the qualities."

A week-long preseason stay in Denver should have celebrated the triumphant return of Smith and Gary Kubiak, Elway's nine-year backup and the critical second component to McNair's 2006 relaunch of the Texans. Kubiak made it through 13 games in 2013, then was relieved of his duties after 11 consecutive numbing defeats. Wednesday, only Smith could reflect on the up- and-down, cross-country arc of his NFL life.

"This was my first introduction into the National Football League," Smith said. "It's hard to believe it was over 18 years ago – that's a long time. … I grew up in an organization that is top notch in Denver. I'm in an organization now that is equally top notch. And so I'm blessed to be working with Bob and Cal (McNair) and in the city of Houston."

* * *

O'Brien won't discuss 2013 because he had nothing to do with it. Before his time. Out of his hands.

Smith will but only briefly.

Prior to the breaking point in the worst overall season in franchise history, the GM agreed to a state-of-the-union interview with a reporter. A couple questions were asked. Smith responded with heartfelt, unfiltered responses. Then he suddenly stopped the session. The Texans were still fighting. Smith wasn't ready to conduct a postmortem on a dying body he thought he could still revive.

Eight months after Kubiak was fired and McNair cleaned house for the second time, Smith reflected on the season he survived.

"That was absolutely one of the toughest things," Smith said. "It wasn't just Gary. It was Gary and 18 or 19 other coaches, some of which I had been with as long as I had been with Gary. So it was the families that were associated and involved and the friendships and all those things. … That's a very difficult and tough part of the business."

So is the NFL's unbreakable reflective mirror. Smith and Kubiak publicly backed Schaub before pick-six No. 4, during a nationally televised blowout defeat to the San Francisco 49ers on Oct. 6. Two months later, the 2013 Texans were officially dead. The buried remains: Three starting quarterbacks, two head coaches, one promising but ultimately unfulfilling era.

"I mean, it was tough," Smith said. "I don't spend a lot of time dwelling on it. But I will say this: You have to sit down and analyze it and that was not a fun time for me.

"But it was a necessary thing. And then you have to be very honest when you do that and … there's all these things that you have to guard against when you go and take a good look at yourself. And I think we did that and I think we developed a game plan to move forward and come out of that a stronger, better football team and a better organization. And I think we've done it."

* * *

Smith knows what NFL insiders say about a GM's world: It's a lonely life.

Monday through Wednesday, Smith is often on a professional island. A man who three times a week starts his day at 5:30 a.m. so he can work out with a personal trainer often doesn't leave NRG Stadium until 10 p.m.

"They're long days," Smith said. "Long days."

They're also good, honorable days. Smith believes the ideal goal in life is to live as an individual expression of God. The mind, body, soul and spirit must be attended to, nurtured and rewarded. For Smith to address all four areas and honor God in his working life, the most direct answer is to be the best GM he can possibly be.

"We're on the planet to express ourselves in the highest," Smith said. "And in my role as a general manager and my position on this football team …. our goals are to win championships. So if I'm expressing myself in the highest, I know what I need to do in order for those goals to be realized."

Winning in an unforgiving league is one thing. Being a father and husband is another. Smith strives for personal balance. Which is why he leaves work early on Thursday so he can have dinner with his three children (11, 6, 5), then devotes Friday evenings to movie nights.

"They need their daddy's attention," Smith said. "And I've got a wife that needs it as well. But she's a great partner, so that part of it is good at home."

McNair has been Smith's rock since 2006. The owner who brought the NFL back to Houston plucked Smith away from Denver when the Texans needed new life. Eight years later, McNair and Smith are two of the only top-level Texans remaining from the start of the Smith-Kubiak run.

"(McNair) provides just a tremendous amount of wisdom," Smith said. "Where I can pick up the phone or I can go to his office or I can say, 'Hey. This is what I'm thinking. This is what's going on. What do you think?' And he's just a sage. He's a wise man in so many different areas. And his perspective is generally right with what on I need."

* * *

Kubiak's removal further isolated Smith.

For years, long-frustrated fans blamed Kubiak for the team's on-field inconsistency and lack of finishing power. Midway through 2013, Smith began to join his longtime professional partner as an easy punching bag for talk radio, message boards and Twitter streams.

Does Smith drive to and leave NRG Stadium spinning the dial, searching for the newest nasty take on his professional life?

No.

Does he listen to the noise more than some would think?

Yes.

"Here's what I do: I will tell you that from time to time, I need to know the pulse of what's going on," Smith said. "And so I don't make it a habit to listen to sports radio, for example. But I do try to read the articles that are out. I try to be aware of what the perception of our football team is. Not that it influences anything that I do, but just so that I'm aware of it."

* * *

The endless chatter hasn't and won't change what Smith believes in. Like McNair and O'Brien, the GM wants smart, tough, high character Texans who are passionate about playing football for a living.

The failure of 2-14 bottomed out the Texans. It didn't touch Smith's personal faith.

"You know that old saying, 'If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything?' You've got to have a strong belief in what you do," Smith said. "You've got to have that ability, though, to obviously look at situations and have some flexibility if what you're doing is not working. But you just have to have some conviction."

Smith pauses for five seconds before answering a final question.

He's asked about turning around the Texans, quickly erasing 2-14 and guiding the franchise to the first Super Bowl appearance in Houston history.

Smith keeps his life in perspective. His spiritual walk with God and his family are placed above all else.

But there is always football. And a silver trophy the city of Houston has never seen.

"It's difficult to describe how important that is," Smith said. "It's a desire that can't be really articulated."